Tim Kinsella – författare

Reunited for a funeral and leery of one another, a family compares splintered memories. Will bathes his grandmother. Mel gives her wig a haircut. Norman is not prepared to take over his father's club. Jesse has never known how old he is. They each cope with limited options and murky desires. An irreducible collage, as intuitive as it is formal, The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense drifts between story lines and perspectives. Long bus rides through a post-industrial Gothic Midwest, Classic Rock, and compulsive brawls hum a requiem for the late night life of Stone Claw Grove.

Our narrator is the brooding runt of a political dynasty known as The Family. Always a little tipsy, he is thoughtful but has trouble expressing himself, thanks to his many physical defects as a result of inbreeding. It is fall 1988 and his father, Poppy, is about to be appointed Prez of The Homeland. Desperate to fill air time at the advent of a 24-hour news cycle, even our narrator is suddenly of interest to The Media. The Family is forced to hide him away in one of its secret hideouts, an estate he recalls fondly from his childhood. Moody over a love triangle, our narrator gets lost wandering the mansion's long halls. He cloisters himself deep under the estate and constructs a tomb out of soup cans. Here he gets to work to correct the popular mythology that he is his mother's favorite son. His oldest brother is already tapped to be Prez. And maybe even the next brother after that. Unwittingly our narrator reveals the backstory of how The Family achieved such power, including its role in 11/22/63 and Watergate. And he lets slip some of The Family's big plans for The Homeland ...

This monograph delves into the career of celebrated artist Robert Ryan. From his early roots as a musician and painter, he discovered tattooing and quickly became one of the preeminent artists in that realm. His work reveals a deep mastery of the American tattooing tradition while creating a mystical and fantastic world full of unique takes on Eastern religious iconography. The book covers two decades of stunning paintings & tattoos, interviews with art and music luminaries about his work and subject matter, detailing Ryan's personal journey and progression as an artist.